TAX GIVEAWAYS TO RICH: Make school tax hike a rotten idea

Schoolteachers, taxpayers bamboozled by CPS budget
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/...

I remain concerned about CPS' budgeting, as noted in the above article from three years ago.

History needs to stop repeating here in CoMo -- if I hear one more time that "we need to do better and not make the same mistakes again" with respect to public money, I think I'm going to scream!

From Dec. 2011, about Battle High planning snafus:

"Don Ludwig, a former Columbia Board of Education member now volunteering with the district, supported the idea. 'I agree. We have to do a better job of that,' he said."

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011...

From July 2010, about Battle High planning snafus:

"We’re spending $2.9 million that we never intended to spend," Chief Financial Officer Linda Quinley said.

"Hopefully we can learn from this and not make these mistakes again," then-School Board member Ines Segert added.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010...

This 2012 proposal is for an enormous tax and bonding increase, esp. given the $120 million bond issue we just passed.

Much of that money the Board and superintendents have treated like petty cash, splurging on developers' vacant land far out of town and new administrative digs (big developers and top administrators are always the two highest local priorities -- just look around).

None of this is a good sign that history won't keep repeating, esp. given the School Board's insular -- dare I say almost elitist -- culture.

 

-- Mike Martin